Shuttle checking means for loom



July 9, 1963 c. R. KRoNoFF 3,096,794

SHUTTLE CHECKING MEANS FOR Loom Filed Nov. 20, 1961 59 SGF IG. 8 58 |NvENToR CLARENCE R. KRoNor-'F 52 FIG. 655 52/54 \54 53 54 57 6l \59/ ,mTorjljfll'7 3,096,794 SLE CIECKING MEANS FOR LOOM Clarence R. Kronen, Worcester, Mass., assigner to Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Nov. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 153,288 7 Claims. (Cl. 139-185) This invention, in general, relates to improvements in shuttle boxes for looms and more particularly relates to improvements in the shuttle checking means for each shuttle box to stop the shuttle during entrance thereof into a shuttle box.

A common type of loom that has gone into extensive commercial use employs lat least one shuttle box at each end of a reciprocating lay across which a shuttle is propelled during the Weaving process. These shuttles travel at a very high velocity back and forth across the loom from shuttle box to shuttle box, and upon completion of a flight across the loom it is of paramount importance to stop or check the shuttle in a box in a manner to avoid the disadvantage of sudden stopping of the shuttle which oftentimes results in a lso-called slough-off of the filling thread from the bobbin in the shuttle. Certain types of bin-ders in present use act to stop the shuttle instantaneously from said high velocity to zero velocity which causes vibratory shock between the binder and shuttle with attendant erratic stopping of the shuttle which Limits the speed `at which the loom can operate at optimum efiiciency.

It is therefore .an important object of the invention to eliminate the disadvantage and vibratory shook discussed above by providing a shuttle receiving box with an improved shuttle checking means to progressively decelerate the shuttle from said high velocity speed to zero velocity substantially uniformly to stop the shuttle 1n a progressive manner.

Another object o-f the invention is to provide the shuttle box with a shuttle engaging box front to which is attached a block of elongated shuttle binding resilient grooved means including a longitudinal web having ribs extending therefrom on opposite sides of the web, the ribs on one side being `staggered in relation to the ribs on the opposite side crosswise with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web.

Another object of the invention is to provide the box front with a shuttle engaging exi-ble wall attached thereto .and spaced therefrom and between which the resilient means is securely 'fastened 'as by cernenting certain of the ribs to the box front and certain of the ribs to the exible wall.

Still another object of the invention is to have the ribs on the opposite sides of the web extend yfrom one surface to the opposite surface of the resilient rneans in a manner to define uninterrupted grooves extending between the surfaces, the ribs on one side being opposite and narrower than the grooves on the opposite side, and conversely the ribs on the other side being opposite to and narrower than the grooves on the other side, and conversely the ribs -on the other side being opposite and narrower than the grooves on said one side.

A lfurther object of the invention is to arrange multiple sets of ribs so that they extend laterally from the web with respect to the direction of travel of the shuttle, whereupon entrance of the latter in a shuttle box will engage the flexible wall and a shuttle engaging rear longitudinal rigid wall forming part of the shuttle box to effect application and translation of lateral shear forces progressively to the ribs to subject the resilient means to shear stresses in a `direction transverse of the direction atet icc

of travel of the shuttle to effect stopping thereof at a substantially uniform rate.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example three embodiments of the invention 'and in which:

FIG. l is a plan view of a shuttle box having the nvention applied thereto,

FIGS. 2. and 3 lare vertical sections respectively on lines 2.--2 and 3--3 of FIGURE. l,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view looking in the direction of arrow `4, FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view illustrating lthe oper-ation of the invention,

FIG. 6 is la plan view of a modified form of the invention,

FIG. 7 is a second modified form of the invention,

FIG. 8 is a view looking in the direction of arrow 8, FIG. 7, and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating the operation of a portion of the resilient checking means.

Referring now particularly to FIG. l, `a l-ay 1 has its left end attached to a layend 2 which is mounted to a reciprocating laysword not shown but well understood in the art. The lay, of course, extends towards the right across to the other end of the loom whereat the lay 1 is attached to a layend, not shown, similar to layend 2 which is supported by a second reciprocating laysword also not shown but well understood in the art. Layend 2 mounts an inner shuttle box guide plate 3 'which receives an inner tongue 4 forming part of a shuttle engaging rigid rear wall 5. The left-hand end of layend 2 supports an outer shuttle box guide plate 6 which receives an outer tongue 7 fast with respect to a vertical plate 8. A vertical inner plate 9 includes a shuttle mouth guide l0 adjacent the mouth designated `generally at |11 of the shuttle box generally indicated by the reference character 12. Plates 8 and 9 form part of the shuttle box 12, as is usual.

The layend 2 supports a picking rod 13 along which a picker 14 is moved periodically in the loom cycle to efffect picking of a shuttle 15 lacross the loom. Shuttle 15 contains a bobbin 16 to lay its filling thread 17 in the usual sheds during back `and forth iiight across the loom.

The matter thus far described is of usual construction and operates in 'well known manner and 'forms no part of the present invention except as set forth hereinafter. It is to be noted that although only a single shuttle box is shown other boxes may be beneath shuttle box 12, as` is usual, to be vertically reciprocated by known means not shown and guided in reciprocation by guides 4 and 7 to shuttle receiving and picking positions. Also, it is to be understood that there will be at least one shuttle box at the other end of the loom, and it is deemed unnecessary to illustrate all of the boxes utilized -with a loom since the invention will be the same for each and every shuttle box employed and will operate to stop or check the shuttle in the same manner for all boxes.

In carrying the present invention into effect and with reference particularly to FIG. 1, shuttle box 12 `is provided with -a longitudinal box trout 18 spaced from and substantially parallel to rigid wall 5, each end of box front 18 being pivoted at the rear of right and left links 19 and 20 respectively. 'Ihe forward ends of these links are pivoted as at 21 and 22 respectively to box front supporting b-locks 23 and 24 respectively bolted to vertical plates 9 and 8 respectively as: at 25. Supporting lblocks 23 and 24 `also act as stops for box front 18 to limit longitudinal motion thereof to the right and left respectively. As can readily be seen in FIG. 1, a spring clip 26 is bolted to box front 18 and has one end of a spring 27 clipped thereto while the other end thereof is fastened Ias at 28 to part of the supporting block 24. The spring acts to Si maintain the box front against part 219 of supporting block 24 and ran tangle member 30 on box front 18 mounts an adjustable screw 31 which acts to engage supporting block 23 during movement of the binder to the right during a shuttle picking operation, :as will be set forth more fully hereinafter.

The box front 18 has mounted thereto la flexible wall 36 preferably made of leather but not necessarily limited thereto. The ends of flexible wall 36 are curved forwardly and `are attached to box front 18 by fasteners 37 and 37 :respectively at the right and left-hand ends of the box front 18, see FIG. 1. Wall 36 is substantially parallel to rigid wall and spaced forwardly there-from and is also spaced rearwardly from box front 18 to provide a longitudinal space 39, see FIG. 5, to receive an elongated resilient block of gro-oved material generally indicated by reference character 40.

, The resilient material 40 has a rearward first set or series of ribs 41 extending laterally with respect to the direction of flight of the shuttle which is indicated by arrow a, FIG. 1. These ribs extend transversely and rearwardly from a central longitudinal uninterrupted continuous web 42 having its ends cemented to wall 36 adjacent fasteners 37 and 38 `and define therebetween a series of rearwardly opening grooves 43 open-ended on three sides land which extend from top surface 44 uninterruptedly to bottom surface 4S of the resilient material 4), see FIGS. 1, 2 .and 3. Also extending transversely from the web 42 forwardly is la :second set or series of ribs 46 Iwhich define between them forwardly opening grooves 47 open-ended on three sides which also reach from surface 44 to 45 uninterruptedly. As can be noted in FIGS. 1 and 5, ribs 41 lare iu staggered relationship with ribs 46 in 4a longitudinal direction and crosswise with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web 42. Ribs 41 are narrower than `and opposite to grooves 47 and conversely, ribs 46 `are narrower than land opposite grooves 43. 'The ribs 41 are cemented to flexible wall 36 as indicated by the reference character 4S, and ribs` 46 are cemented 4as at 49 to the bar 18, see particularly FIG. 5, while the ends 50 of webs 42 are cemented to wall 36 as at 51. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 rand 5, the web 42 is located longitudinally central in space 39.

With reference to FIG. 6 which shows the first modified form of the invention, ribs 52 and ribs 53, similar to ribs 41 and 46, define therebetween arcuate grooves `54 to -add strength t-o the web portion 55 although this is not a necessary condition for the successful operation lof the invention. Y

In the second modified `form of the invention shown in FIG. 7, the ribs 56 `and 57 extend diagonally with respect to web 58 and these ribs define diagonal spaces 59 extending from top surface 60 to bottom surface 61 in `an uninterrupted man-ner, as do arcuate ygrooves 54 shown in the first modified form of the invent-ion -in FIG. 6. It is to be understood that the diagonal direction of the ribs in FIG. 7 may be the reverse of that without affect- -ing shuttle checking operations. In both modified forms of the invention the ribs are attached to flexible wall 36 in the same manner as are ribs 41 and 46 in the preferred form of the invention.

During loom operation, shuttle will be picked across the loom and at the end of each ilight the shuttle checking resilient means will coaet Iwith rigid wall 5 to stop the shuttle during entrance thereof into the shuttle box. As can readily be seen in FIG. 5, the shuttle will be moving in the direction of arrow b as it enters the shuttle box and.

upon engagement with the flexible wall 36 ribs 41 and 46 will be compressed laterally with respect to the direction of the flight of the shuttle. As the shuttle enters the box 12, shear forces caused by the shuttle will be applied to the ribs 41 and 46 one by one progressively to effect uniform stopping of the shuttle. The shuttle, as it continues into the box, will continue to engage walls 5 and 36 to cause the application of shear forces represented by arrows c and d, see FIG. 9, to subject web 42 to shear stresses to resist entrance of the shuttle progressively into the shuttle box to effect stopping of the shuttle in its proper position in the box, as illustrated in FIG. 1. As noted in FIG. 9, the shear forces twill be applied along dot and dash -lines e and f opposite With respect to each other and in lateral relationship to the direction of ight of the shuttle. As the ribs y41 and 46 are compressed one by one by the shuttle, web 42 will be deformed and introduced to bending stresses indicated by dot and dash line yBS, FIG. 5, land the webs and slots will be substantially like that illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 9.

When picker 14 is operated to eject the shuttle from the box, links 19 `and 20 will be moved to the right by initial movement of the shuttle in the same `direction and screw 31 will engage supporting block 23 to limit movement of the binder to the right and forwardly in the direction of arrows R, see FIG. 1. The binder thus moved will relieve the shear stresses (that have been applied t0 the web 42 to permit easy and true picking of the shuttle. After the shuttle is picked out of the shuttle box, the spring 27 fwill act to return the shuttle checking resilient means against part 29 to shuttle checking position. It is to be understood that the movable box front 18 is but one example in which the present invention can be utilized and that front 18 may be replaced with the usual stationary type of box front without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Because of the flexibility of Iwall 36, the ribs 41 tend to be slightly `deflected to the left as seen in FIG. 5 as at 56 to facilitate stopping the shuttle due to the resistance inherently olfered by the ribs to deflect, the resistance and the shear stresses acting simultaneously to progressively stop the shuttle in a uniformly decelerating manner as it enters the shuttle box. It is to be understood, that the ribs need lnot be actually deflected for successful shuttle stopping since the shear stresses as described bereinbefore can effectively cause stoppage of the shuttle without deflection of the ribs.

With respect to the modified forms of the invention, the operation for stopping and picking the shuttle is the same as in the preferred form of the invention, and it is deemed unnecessary to further elaborate thereupon.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that simple means have been provided to stop the shuttle during entrance thereof into a shuttle box in a progressive manner from a high velocity rate of travel to zero velocity in substantially a uniform rate. Moreover, it will be readily seen that the shear forces caused by the shuttle are applied and transmitted laterally with respect to the direction of shuttle flight to subject the resilient material to shear stresses which act to resist entrance of the shuttle into the shuttle box in a uniform manner to regulate proper stopping of the shuttle. .Also it will be seen that the ribs may be arranged in various modified forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without changing the mode of operation to stop the shuttle after its flight across the loom.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention. and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

l. :In a shuttle checking means for a loom operating with at least one shuttle box at each end thereof to receive and check shuttles at the end of their flight across the loom, each box being provided with a rear longitudinal shuttle engaging rigid wall and a forward box front formed with a flexible wall substantially parallel to and forwardly of the rear wall and spaced substantially parallel to and rearwardly of the box front to form a longitudinal space between the latter and the flexible wall, the ends of the exible wall being curved forwardly and fastened to the ends of the box front,

(a) a central longitudinal uninterrupted resilient web forming part of the box front and spaced from said llexible wall and said box front to extend centrally of said longitudinal space and with its ends fastened to the ends of said flexible wall,

(b) a irst set of ribs extending transversely and rearwardly from one side of said web to define rearwardly opening grooves therebetween, the ribs being attached to said flexible Wall, and

(c) a second set of ribs extending transversely and forwardly from the opposite side of said one side of said web to dene forwardly opening grooves therebetween, the second set of ribs being attached to the shuttle box front,

(d) said ribs being compressed serially when the shuttle enters the box to subject said web progressively ltherealong to shear stresses acting transversely of the direction of travel of the shuttle into the box to progressively resist entrance of the shuttle therein to etfect stopping of the shuttle in its proper position in the box.

2. The shuttle checking means set forth in claim 1 wherein (a) said longitudinal web has the ribs on said one of said sides staggered longitudinally With respect to the ribs on said opposite side crosswise with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web.

3. The shuttle checking means set forth in claim 1 wherein (a) said ribs extend from one surface of said web to the opposite surface thereof to define uninterrupted grooves extending from said one surface to said opposite surface, said ribs on said one side of said two sides being opposite to and narrower than the grooves on said opposite side and conversely said ribs on said opposite side being opposite to and narrower than said grooves on said one side.

4. The shuttle checking means set forth in claim 1 wherein (a) said longitudinal web has ribs extending from said two sides thereof diagonally with respect to the Web.

5. The shuttle checking means set forth in claim 1 wherein (a) said longitudinal web is provided wit-h ribs extending therefrom on opposite sides thereof to define forwardly and rearwardly opening arcuate grooves therebetween.

6. In a loom operating with at least one shuttle and 6 shuttle boxing means at opposite ends of the loom to stop a shuttle during entrance thereof into said boxing means, the improvement which comprises:

(a) grooved resilient means including a longitudinal central web with multiple sets of ribs extending transversely therefrom on both sides thereof and forming part of the boxing means for stopping of the shuttle therein by application of shear forces caused by the shuttle to said sets of ribs to subject said web to lateral shear stresses in a direction transverse of direction of travel of the shuttle to effect said stoping, said shear stresses being applied on said both sides of said web and in opposite directions.

7. In shuttle checking means for loom having a shuttle box including resilient means to eiect stopping of a shuttle when it enters the box (a) a resilient longitudinal continuous control web portion forming part of said means,

(b) a first series of ribs extending laterally and rearwardly from said web on one side thereof to define grooves between said ribs, openended on three sides,

(c) a second series `of ribs opposite said one side and extending laterally and forwardly from said web to define grooves between said ribs, also openended on three sides,

(d) said shuttle during entrance thereof into the box causing said rst series of ribs to bend very slightly lin the direction of travel of the shuttle and causing both series of ribs to subject said web to shear forces transversely of direction of travel of said shuttle whereupon the forces that resist the tendency to bend the ribs and to shear web act simultaneously and progressively to effect stopping of the shuttle in a uniformly decelerating manner as it enters the box.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 820,663 Mills May 15, 1906 2,527,066 Kennedy Oct. 24, 1950 2,556,037 Kennedy June 5, 1951 2,699,184 Bergstrom et al I an. 11, :1955

FOREIGN PATENTS 327,907 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1930 721,546 Great Britain Jan. 5, 1955 504,711 Italy Dec. 14, 1954 

1. IN A SHUTTLE CHECKING MEANS FOR A LOOM OPERATING WITH AT LEAST ONE SHUTTLE BOX AT EACH END THEREOF TO RECEIVE AND CHECK SHUTTLES AT THE END OF THEIR FLIGHT ACROSS THE LOOM, EACH BOX BEING PROVIDED WITH A REAR LONGITUDINAL SHUTTLE ENGAGING RIGID WALL AND A FORWARD BOX FRONT FORMED WITH A FLEXIBLE WALL SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO AND FORWARDLY OF THE REAR WALL AND SPACED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO AND REARWARDLY OF THE BOX FRONT TO FORM A LONGITUDINAL SPACE BETWEEN THE LATTER AND THE FLEXIBLE WALL, THE ENDS OF THE FLEXIBLE WALL BEING CURVED FORWARDLY AND FASTENED TO THE ENDS OF THE BOX FRONT, (A) A CENTRAL LONGITUDINAL UNINTERRUPTED RESILIENT WEB FORMING PART OF THE BOX FRONT AND SPACED FROM SAID FLEXIBLE WALL AND SAID BOX FRONT TO EXTEND CENTRALLY OF SAID LONGITUDINAL SPACE AND WITH ITS ENDS FASTENED TO THE ENDS OF SAID FLEXIBLE WALL, (B) A FIRST SET OF RIBS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY AND REARWARDLY FROM ONE SIDE OF SAID WEB TO DEFINE REARWARDLY OPENING GROOVES THEREBETWEEN, THE RIBS BEING ATTACHED TO SAID FLEXIBLE WALL, AND (C) A SECOND SET OF RIBS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY AND FORWARDLY FROM THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF SAID ONE SIDE OF SAID WEB TO DEFINE FORWARDLY OPENING GROOVES THEREBETWEEN, THE SECOND SET OF RIBS BEING ATTACHED TO THE SHUTTLE BOX FRONT, (D) SAID RIBS BEING COMPRESSED SERIALLY WHEN THE SHUTTLE ENTERS THE BOX TO SUBJECT SAID WEB PROGRESSIVELY THEREALONG TO SHEAR STRESSES ACTING TRANSVERSELY OF THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF THE SHUTTLE INTO THE BOX TO PROGRESSIVELY RESIST ENTRANCE OF THE SHUTTLE THEREIN TO EFFECT STOPPING OF THE SHUTTLE IN ITS PROPER POSITION IN THE BOX. 